FREE town centre Wi-Fi could be good for visitors, shoppers, and local businesses, councillors heard last week.

At a meeting on Wednesday, January 13, members of Milford Haven Town Council were able to ask questions about a proposed county council scheme to install free public Wi-Fi in Pembrokeshire’s biggest towns.

Councillors heard from David Bannister, of Newcastle Emlyn-based firm Antur Teifi, whose information technology arm Telemat has been chosen by Pembrokeshire County Council to deliver the scheme.

Mr Bannister explained the county council was offering to pay for installation, maintenance, and licence fees for wireless internet equipment in each town for three years.

After that, local councils, chambers of trade and other groups involved could decide whether to take on the costs themselves.

Mr Bannister said a minimum of five towns were needed to make the scheme viable, but this looked likely thanks to strong interest from councils in Tenby, Saundersfoot, Fishguard, Haverfordwest and St Davids.

At present seven locations in Charles Street had been identified as suitable for housing the equipment needed to run the system, but Mr Bannister said initial conversations with business owners and landlords about becoming ‘hosts’ had been unsuccessful.

In order to provide seamless coverage throughout the street, enough local businesses would need to give permission for equipment to be installed outside their premised, and an existing broadband connection would also be required at each site.

But Mr Bannister said hopefully the council could work with the firm to come up with an incentive scheme to get shopkeepers on board, as had already been agreed in other towns.

Once given the go-ahead, the system – which uses around £25 of electricity per unit per year – could not only provide free internet access, but could also help improve the visitor experience, and help local businesses too.

He said data collected by the system could be used to track footfall, and identify people’s habits while visiting, as well as identifying busy ‘hotspots’, and how long visitors spend in the town centre.

Users can also opt-in to receive marketing information – giving potential for the council and local businesses to promote upcoming offers, events and activities.

Mr Bannister said the devices were all expected to last around six years, after which some or all may need replacing.

And after the initial three years of county council subsidy, councils would be eligible for all future costs if they continued with the system.

But, he added, some towns had already come up with ways to offset future costs, by charging local businesses for advertising space on their homepage.

The units cost around £1,000 each to replace, £300 per ‘landmark’ or home page’, £150 per unit for maintenance, and £150 in licence fees per unit.

Cllr Colin Sharp said the system could be a ‘plus for Charles Street’ but asked whether the system could be extended into the marina, where there were also lots of businesses, and to the town museum.

Mr Bannister said the current quote had been based on recommendations by PCC, but that there could be room in the budget to include the marina area, and if not, the Port of Milford Haven may be able to install a separate system.

Anna Malloy, from the Port of Milford Haven, who was also in attendance, said the Port was very interested in the scheme.

Cllr Eric Harries said that as the town had no chamber of trade, and its Business Circle had very few members, the firm might find it difficult to engage with local businesses.

But Cllr Sharp said he would be happy to visit local businesses, accompanied by someone from Antur Teifi, to explain the benefits of the system, and answer any concerns.

Cllr Rhys Sinnett said the data collected could prove useful for local businesses, to show shoppers’ habits.

Asked by Cllr Mathew Rickard how data collected from users would be shared, Mr Bannister said each town would be responsible for its own data, and would not be able to ‘sell on’ information to third parties, including other towns in Pembrokeshire.

Proposals will now be referred to the council’s social media and finance committee, before going before full council.